News and Events

Read the latest on research by Megha-Tropiques scientists, announcements of meetings and other events that Megha-Tropiques scientists are participating in
on the Megha-Tropiques Science Team web site.

Missing Megha-Tropiques Level-1 data since 19 December 2018

Because of some technical issues, Megha-Tropiques Level-1 data are unavailable since 2018-12-19. ISRO is investigating the problem, but for the moment, there is no date for a resumption of data dissemination.

Missing Megha-Tropiques Level-1 data from 15 November to 7 December 2018

Because of some technical issues encountered to process the satellite data stream, Megha-Tropiques Level-1 data are unavailable from 2018-11-15 to 2018-12-07. It is very unlikely that these data will be recovered.

Public release of Megha-TropiquesSurface Accumulated Rainfall – May 2017 – Update March 2018

Update of previous highlight posted in May 2017: The TAPEER-BRAIN product is now available until December 14, 2017. Please note that this product is available in the MULTI_SENSOR section of the archive.
We are pleased to announce the release of the daily cumulated surface rainfall products and associated uncertainties. This so-called TAPEER-BRAIN product is available for the period from October 2011 till end of December 2016 at the resolution of 1°/1day, and are archived at the AERIS/ICARE data center.
To access the data, users must register. Registered users can access the data through the Archive Web Interface and the FTP server. See the Data Access section for details on access procedures and data policy.
Click here to access the data from the ICARE archive interface (current version: v1.00).
Click here to access the archive using FTP.

+ More information on the TAPEER-BRAIN product on the scientific web page

AERIS/ICARE Data and Services Center is pleased to announce the public release of cloud products derived from geostationary sensors in collaboration with Meteo-France/CMS/SATMOS and the Megha-Tropiques Science Team. The products (cloud mask, cloud type and cloud top pressure) are available over the period beginning with the Megha-Tropiques mission launch in October 2011 until present. This cloud information obtained at the highest spatial and temporal scale available is an important complement to the Megha-Tropiques mission, which aims at describing the radiative flux, the humidity profiles, and rain fields associated with tropical convection at a high temporal resolution.
Those cloud products are produced using an extended version of the SAFNWC (Satellite Application Facility for NowCasting) algorithm originally developed for SEVIRI by Derrien and Le Gleau (2005, 2010) and adapted to other geostationary data sets (Sèze et al. 2015).
For more information about products and data access, see the Megha-Tropiques 'Products' page (SAFNWC and GEOCLD section).

+ Scientific documentation on the geostationary cloud products on the Megha-Tropiques Science web site

+ More information on the geostationary cloud products on the ICARE Megha-Tropiques 'Products' page

Public release of Megha-Tropiques/SAPHIRRelative Humidity profiles products – July 2015

The French Megha-Tropiques science team is pleased to announce the public release of the layer-averaged relative humidity profiles (L2-RH) derived from the SAPHIR instrument. This new Level-2 product is available from the start of the mission (October 2011) until present.
(click
here to access the data from the ICARE archive interface (current version: v1.00).
The SAPHIR relative humidity profiles are produced for 6 altitude layers: 100-200hPa, 250-350hPa, 400-600hPa, 650-700hPa, 750-800hPa and 850-950hPa. The retrieval scheme named ARPIA ("Atmospheric Relative humidity profile Including the Analysis of confidence intervals") provides an estimate of the mean RH as well as its standard deviation interpreted as the 1-sigma confidence interval. ARPIA considers cloud-free and cloudy conditions, oceanic and continental scenes. Known limitations are for icy layers on top of convective clouds and for precipitating conditions, which are filtered out using the Hong et al. (2005) threshold method adapted for SAPHIR channels.
The details of the method will be soon available in a peer-reviewed paper.

+ Access to L2-RH products from the ICARE on-line archive

+ More information on the L2-RH products on the Megha-Tropiques Science web site

Second announcement and call for abstractsInternational conference on “Water and Energy cycles in the Tropics”17-19 November 2015, Paris, France Deadline for abstract submission extended to June 19

The aim of the conference is to provide a forum to review and discuss the latest research on the topic of the water and energy cycles with emphasis on tropical regions.
The tropical energy cycles are central to the climate, its variability and its future evolution as reflected in the WCRP Grand Challenges being led by both the GEWEX program and the WGCM. The dynamical nature of the tropical water cycle and the control on the energy balance on both the tropical atmospheric dynamics and water cycle is one of the main incentives of the conference.
The deadline for abstract submission is June 15, 2015 (extended to June 19).

+ Read more

Megha-Tropiques browse interface

ICARE developed a web interface to visualize Megha-Tropiques browse imagery associated with SAPHIR and ScaRaB "Orbit" L1A2 products.
Browse images are created at native resolution for the whole data archive. http://www.icare.univ-lille1.fr/browse/mtview.php

Public release of Megha-Tropiques SAPHIR and ScaRaB Level-2 productsUpdate on Level-1 products and MADRAS statusOctober 2013

Megha-Tropiques SAPHIR and ScaRaB Level-2 products are now freely available to all registered users through the ICARE Archive Web Interface and FTP server. Level-2 products were produced from the beginning of the mission in late 2011 to present. Three products are available:

ScaRaB L2B-FLUX: 1-degree gridded version of the L2-FLUX shortwave and longwave Flux and Albedo products

The French mission group is working on the future release of precipitation products.

Concerning the Level-1 products, the mission group has decided that orbit-wise products require further evaluation and should no longer be distributed to the public until further notice. The segment-wise Level-1 products are available in version 1.06.

Concerning MADRAS, ISRO and CNES announced in a joint communiqué in September 2013 that the MADRAS instrument has been declared non-operational. As of January 26, 2013, MADRAS Level-1 data is not valid and will not be disseminated to users. The 16-month archive of valid data (from launch to January 26, 2013) are currently restricted to the Science Team members and to other accredited users. MADRAS data are expected to be released in 2014.

+ Access to Megha-Tropiques SAPHIR and ScaRaB products from the ICARE on-line archive

+ Access from ICARE FTP server

Browse interface for Megha-Tropiques SAPHIR and ScaRaB products now available – May 2013

Megha-Tropiques browse imagery associated with SAPHIR and ScaRaB "Orbit" L1A2 products is now available. Images are available through a dedicated web interface:

Public release of Megha-Tropiques SAPHIR and ScaRaBLevel-1A and Level-1A2 data – January 2013

ISRO and CNES have announced the public release of Level-1A and Level-1A2 products of Megha-Tropiques SAPHIR and ScaRaB. Version v1.05 of these data are routinely transmitted to ICARE since January 24, 2013 and are available as "orbit-wise" as well as "segment-wise". This new version includes the latest calibration revisions for both sensors and is currently under evaluation.
Although earlier versions (v1.02, v1.03, v1.04) are also available from the beginning of the mission (from October 13, 2011), they are based on interim radiometric and geometric calibrations and should be used with caution and primarily for qualitative use.